Amanda Lemmon is a 9-year-old orphan, and she is about to be adopted by the Butkises, a family known to "collect" kids. She actually wants Diane Barrows, the orphanage caretaker, to adopt her instead. Diane would like to do so, but authorities will not let her because of her low salary and unmarried status. While at summer camp, Amanda meets an identical girl named Alyssa Callaway, who has come home from boarding school, only to find that her wealthy father, Roger, the camp’s owner, is about to marry Clarice Kensington, an overbearing self-centered gold-digger socialite. The identical strangers soon become acquainted, long for the other's life and decide to switch places. While Amanda adapts Alyssa's wealthy lifestyle and Alyssa gets to experience camp, the two get to know the other's parental figure and discover that Roger and Diane would be perfect for each other. Desperate to set them up, the girls arrange many meetings between Diane and Roger, hoping that they’ll fall in love. Upon having spied Roger and Diane laughing and swimming together in the lake one afternoon, Clarice manipulates Roger into moving the wedding up from the next month to the next day and Amanda, while posing as Alyssa, finds out that Clarice plans on sending her off to boarding school in Tibet after marrying Roger. Meanwhile, Alyssa, while posing as Amanda, ends up being adopted by the Butkises without Diane's knowledge, and is taken away by child services. She then discovers the only reason the Butkises had adopted so many kids was to put them to work in their salvage yard. Roughly two hours before the wedding, Amanda proves to the family butler, Vincenzo, that she is not Alyssa. Vincenzo visits Diane at the orphanage and tells her about the switcheroo. Diane arrives at the Butkises’ salvage yard via helicopter to pick up the real Alyssa and get her to the wedding. In the meantime, Vincenzo and Amanda work to stall the event. As Roger hesitates to say "I do," he recalls all the good times he had with Diane and realizes that he has fallen in love with her. All of a sudden, Diane bursts into the church with Alyssa behind her. At that moment, Roger confesses his love for Diane to Clarice, who furiously slaps him and tries to do the same to "Alyssa," blaming her for sabotaging their wedding, but is stopped by Vincenzo. As Clarice storms down the aisle, the real Alyssa steps out from behind Diane, and Clarice claims it as a "conspiracy" that there are two Alyssas. She tries to take this new opportunity to slap Alyssa, but Diane steps forward in time, barking at her, "Back off, Barbie," and calmly informs her that she has something in her teeth. Humiliated, Clarice moves to storm out of the church again, but Alyssa steps on her wedding gown, causing the skirt to rip off. An incredulous Roger learns that Alyssa has been with Diane, while he had Amanda, all this time and it becomes apparent to the two that the girls had orchestrated their meet-ups all along, about which the girls themselves are extremely smug. After some encouragement from the girls, Roger and Diane share a kiss, and the four of them board a horse-drawn carriage, driven by Vincenzo, to take a ride through Central Park.
Cast
Diane Barrows is a social worker who takes care of the orphans. She especially loves Amanda and would like to adopt her but does not make enough money to be allowed to do so. Amanda also especially likes her. She also wants to find love and thinks she might have a chance after meeting Roger.
Roger Callaway is a very wealthy widower. He owns Camp Callaway, which he founded with his late wife, and currently resides in a large home across the lake from it. He begins to have doubts about marrying Clarice after he meets Diane and they click.
Vincenzo is Roger's butler, best friend, and right-hand man as well as a father figure to Alyssa since the day she was born.
Clarice Kensington is a socialite and, the opposite of Diane. She dislikes children and baseball and only intends to marry Roger for his money. She also convinces him that Alyssa is too spoiled and gets away with bad behavior.
Harry and Fanny Butkis are Amanda's potential adoptive parents. Although she wants to be adopted, she dislikes them, having heard that they "collect kids" and will "take anybody" only to make them work in the salvage yard for slave labor. They have several "adopted" children and a biological son, Harry, Jr..
Nominated – Nickelodeon Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Performance by an Actress Under Ten
Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Performance by an Actress Under Ten
Reception
It Takes Two was released on November 17, 1995 in the United States and grossed $19.5 million. The film received an 8% approval rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 24 reviews. Kevin Thomas from Los Angeles Times called the film "a predictable but fun romp." Roger Ebert called it "harmless and fitfully amusing" with "numbingly predictable" plot and praiseworthy performances and rated it two out of four stars. The website Parent Previews graded the film an overall B as a family-friendly one with "only a couple of bad words and a bit of child intimidation from the bad guys," and Rod Gustafson from that website called it "predictable" with a "happy ending" that children can enjoy.
